r/basset

Rescued this guy from a deeply neglectful situation this week. Unsure of his age, but he has conjunctivitis in the eyes, several teeth missing, ear infection and a handful of small skin tags. We’ve got him on some eye drops and have a vet appointment tomorrow to see what else he may need moving forward. Any advice from people with experience caring for bassets with needs like this?

Petunia kept doing this for a couple of minutes after I stopped recording. I hope you find this to be as sweet as I do

We have a 1 year old basset (pic attached)(have had her since she was 4 mo. old) and have been doing training essentially ever since we got her. I will be honest and say the frequency of full on training sessions fluctuate depending on her behavior, like she almost needs reminder sessions which is fine.

However, we've run into the issue where she get's into 'training mode,' so she listens really well ONLY in our training sessions. Even if she get's the same (high-value) treats on the few times she listens outside of these sessions.

Looking to see what tips and tricks you all have for recall training. And yes.. I am very familiar that at the end of the day they will essentially do whatever suits them best in the moment, but I feel like there is definitely room for improvement.

I have five dogs. Goofy intentionally blocks the stairs to the bed.

This is our new boy Murphy.

Hes been here about 2 months, and is an absolute terror right now.

Grew up with a Basset when I was single digits, but that was 40 years ago.

Stubborn doesn't even begin to describe it...

Douglas is a beagle basset mix. Douglas tolerates a bath only because he gets to walk around the store and eat spilled kibble off the floor and pick out a treat after. You would never know by the looks he gives me throughout the process. I even let him skip the dryer since he hates it so much.

Winston and Elmo. They’ve been inseparable their whole lives. They make my day!

my sweet 8 1/2 yr old basset girl, bisou, who i love with all my heart (i feel like i gave birth to her literally), was just diagnosed with a mast cell tumor and i am absolutely shattered.
she has always been a lumpy girl, and i’ve already had a couple of her lumps removed in the past, all of which came back benign. when i used to work at a general practice vet, there was one lump in particular that i remember being so worried and restless about because the fna came back suspicious. thankfully, the biopsy results ultimately ended up being a lipoma and was just a little aggravated from all the poking we had done. (because this mass was potentially suspicious, the doctor had taken big and deep margins then which she still has a scar from)
i eventually got busy with school and stopped working so when another lump formed on bisou (around december of 2025), i honestly thought it was just another lipoma. it was small, soft, movable, and under the skin, just like her other lumps. i decided to just monitor it and not have her go through another invasive surgery. months went by, and i eventually noticed that it had gotten bigger (gradually not sudden).
i recently started working at an emergency and specialty vet hospital, so i took her in today for a surgery consultation to have the lump removed. the surgeon took one look at it and immediately became concerned that it could be a mast cell tumor. my heart sank because i went into the appointment thinking it was just another lipoma.
he took fna samples, and he confirmed that it is an mct.
the mass is about 12 cm, so he wants to shrink it before surgery next week. she was started on prednisone, famotidine, and benadryl in the meantime. he said that once we send the mass out for biopsy after surgery, we’ll finally know what grade it is, but i am SO incredibly anxious waiting for that answer.
her lump is large, but it isn’t hard or irritated. its on her mid right side (as shown in the picture). she has great energy, a great appetite, and no gi issues. she has always been an itchy, allergy-prone girl, but otherwise she is acting completely like herself.
i’m just really beating myself up over this. i keep thinking maybe it has already spread and that i should have gotten it removed sooner. i wonder if i had managed her allergies better, maybe she wouldn’t have developed an mct in the first place (which i know is not the reason mcts form but im just overthinking it). i know i can’t go back and change anything, but the guilt is still eating me alive. 😞
bisou is my absolute baby. i call her my soul dog, and i genuinely cannot imagine my life without her. i’m trying to stay hopeful and take this one step at a time, praying, and manifesting good thoughts. if anyone is willing to share their stories, experiences, any advice, or thoughts, i would really appreciate it. thank u for listening 🤍

Hi! This si my dog Ela

My basset hound Freya with heterochromia.

Hi everyone! I recently made a post sharing my concerns about my basset who developed a fear of loud noises and going outside.

Over the course of a week, she went from being playful, happy, loving outside, catching onto potty training and going on walks to fearful of stairs, going outside, terrified of random noises (tucking her tail and running), not really wanting to play with her toys, and has resorted to pottying inside.

I got her some calming puppy chews and moved up her vet appointment to today, and her vet ruled out any medical problems. She put her on 100mg of Trazodone every morning, but I am really worried about the sedation side of this. I’ve had experience using trazodone and gabapentin for my lab who needs it to take baths, but again, this is a situational type of dosing, and isn’t an everyday thing. I shared these concerns with my vet since the noises happen unexpectedly so it’s hard to target when it might happen, and she told me to keep giving her the calming treats as well and use them in conjunction to the traz, and work on desensitizing her and getting her used to the noises.

I’m all for this because I do not want her to depend on a medication the rest of her life (especially since she’s still under a year old), but I more so want to hear about others’ experiences with anti anxiety medications and overcoming fear in bassets. What training worked for you? How do I help support her while still helping her build her confidence in these unpredictable moments?

My puppy isn’t reactive or aggressive by any means, and rather when loud noises happen, her initial reaction is to retreat and run back to the apartment. She loves humans, other dogs, going new places, riding in the car, etc., and because of this, the vet recommended she continue to go to her doggy daycare (right now she goes 1-2x a week) to help her also learn from other dogs and see how they react when something unexpected happens. She also encouraged me to take her to public places like the park, stores, etc, and work on desensitizing her, but I am unsure how to do this without further traumatizing her. Any tips in this area also are super helpful!

I’m definitely wanting to use patience with all of it since she is entering her adolescent phase, I rescued her a month ago, and I’m sure this also is all not helping her second fear period that comes around this age. In addition to this, she hasn’t been fixed yet, so with all the new routines, emotions, hormones, and everything happening in her little body, I can only imagine how confused and overwhelmed she is feeling, too. I’m trying to be proactive while also taking everything one day at a time and being the most consistent and constant thing for her right now.

Kisses for Pepper

woke up today and noticed his right eye being more pink then the left. maybe he slept on it wrong or does it look more serious? he already has a vet appt friday so i can bring it up then. he hasn’t been messing with it or acting like it bothers him. just want to get opinions

After a bowl of sausage and burger Flo made it home and went straight into Basset lay down mode